Resilient shock-absorbing bulkhead

ABSTRACT

A bulkhead for use on vehicles having an open flat cargo carrying surface and stake pockets comprises a retaining panel removably attached to the bed of the vehicle by means of sleeves secured to the panel and slidably mounted on a supporting rail secured to posts disposed in stake pockets. Springs mounted on the rail are compressed when a load is applied to the panel by shifting cargo and to absorb the shock of the impact.

United States Patent Doyle et al.

[ Dec. 25, 1973 RESILIENT SHOCK-ABSORBING BULKHEAD Inventors: William F.Doyle, 2818 McAlister St., Topeka, Kans. 66614; Charles W. Artzer, 631Freeman St., Topeka, Kans. 66616 Filed: Aug. 25, 1972 AppL No.: 283,761

U.S. Cl. 105/376, 105/369 B, 105/374 Int. Cl B60p 7/14 Field of Search105/368 S, 369 B,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS l/l958 Hall ..105/374 3/1958 Hall..105/376 2,972,490 2/1961 Styx 105/376 2,978,993 4/1961 Hall 105/3743,193,122 7/1965 Sauthoff t r 105/376 3,451,357 6/1969 Barnard et al...105/376 3,583,333 6/1971 Matyas 105/376 Primary Examiner-Drayton E.Hoffman Att0meyRichard K. Stevens et a1.

[5 7 ABSTRACT A bulkhead for use on vehicles having an open flat cargocarrying surface and stake pockets comprises a retaining panel removablyattached to the bed of the vehicle by means of sleeves secured to thepanel and slidably mounted on a supporting rail secured to postsdisposed in stake pockets. Springs mounted on the rail are compressedwhen a load is applied to the panel by shifting cargo and to absorb theshock of the impact.

11 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENIEI] UEC25 1975 saw an 3 RESILIENTSHOCK-ABSORBING BULKHEAD This invention relates generally to cargocarrying vehicles and more particularly to bulkheads for such vehiclesand to vehicles provided with the bulkheads.

It is the practice to haul various kinds of cargo which do not requirethe protection of an enclosure on highway trailers and railway carswhich have an open flat load carrying surface. Such trailers and carsare provided with stake pockets and are easily loaded with heavy cargosuch as coiled steel, metal rods, metal sheets, pipes, castings and thelike because there are no side walls or top to interfere with loadingequipment. Cargo of the aforesaid kind is most often transported todayon highway trailers. If the cargo is to be transported a great distancethe most popular practice is to place the cargo on a trailer, transferthe loaded trailer to a railway flat car at the nearest railway freightyard and to transport the trailer and its load the greater part of thedistance to its destination piggy-back on the railway car.

The trailer is secured against relative movement on the flat car withits surface substantially parallel to the underlying surface of the carbut it has been found that in spite of this precaution the cargosometimes shifts upon rapid acceleration or deceleration of a train. Infact, there have been instances where loads of steel have fallen fromthe trailer across the rails and caused derailments. Various kinds ofbulkheads have been disclosed for railway flat cars but none of thesehas been adopted for trailers in piggy-back service probably becausethey cannot be moved longitudinally on the cars surface to accomodatevariations in the dimensions of the cargo or they are so complicatedmechanically that their use would be expensive and impractical.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improvedbulkhead which is devoid of the foregoing disadvantages. Another objectof the invention is to provide a bulkhead particularly well suited foruse on highway trailers having a flat cargo carrying surface. Stillanother object of the invention is to provide a shock-absorbing bulkheadfor freight vehicles having an open flat cargo carrying surface andstake pockets which is adapted to be moved longitudinally of the surfaceto accomodate lading of various dimensions. A more specific object ofthe invention is to provide a bulkhead for freight vehicles which isresilient and adapted to absorb the shock applied to its retaining panelwhen the cargo shifts with sudden acceleration or deceleration. A stillfurther object of the invention is to provide a freight vehicle having aresilient shockabsorbing bulkhead removably attached thereto.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description withreference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a flat-bed trailer with an embodiment ofthe bulkhead attached thereto;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the bulkhead, taken alongline 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the bulkhead, with some parts insection;

FIG. 4 is a front elevation of a rail support, taken along line 4-4 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a rail support, taken along line5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section of the support and adjusting rail, taken alongline 6-6 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a fragment of a support railshowing its internal reinforcement.

The foregoing objects and others are accomplished in accordance withthis invention, generally speaking, by providing a removableshock-absorbing bulkhead for freight vehicles which have an open flatsurfaced bed with stake pockets spaced longitudinally along the sidesthereof. The bulkhead has a retaining panel removably secured at eachend to the bed by posts disposed in stake pockets. A supporting railspans the space between the posts and is secured thereto. The retainingpanel is slidably mounted at each end on the rail. A spring or otherresilient means is provided to resist sliding of the panel on the railunder impact and to act as a shock-absorber. More specifically, theinvention provides a bulkhead having a shock-absorbing retaining panelwhich extends laterally across a vehicles cargo carrying surface, a pairof longitudinally spaced posts on each side of the cargo carryingsurface adapted to be disposed simultaneously in stake pockets, asupporting rail spanning the space between the posts on each side andsecured thereto, sleeves fixed to the panel and slidably disposed on therail, and springs between the sleeves which compress to permit the panelto move away from an applied load and to absorb the shock of the impact.A triangularly shaped bracket is secured at its base to each side of thepanel. Each bracket has a sleeve secured thereto which is slidablydisposed over the rail. An intermediate sleeve is secured to the end ofthe panel and is also slidable disposed on the rail. The rail ispreferably a tube or pipe and has a series of Iongituindally spacedholes therein. A coil spring is disposed about the rail between eachcollar carried by the bracket and the intermediate sleeve. A flangedbushing or collar may be slidably disposed on the rail between each endof the spring and the adjacent sleeve. The panel may be positionedanywhere along the length of the rail by means of a pin or bolt disposedin one of the holesthrough the rail. The spring may be pre-loaded, ifdesired, by spacing the pins to compress the springs between thecollars.

The bulkhead may be fixed against vertical displacement from the vehicleby means of a chain which is secured at each end to a stake pocket andpasses through a slot in a bracket carried by a post. The slot in thebracket may have a top portion having dimensions about equal to a chainlink horizontally disposed therein and a lower portion having dimensionssuch that a vertically disposed link will fit snugly therein. With sucha slot, the chain can be stretched tightly regardless of whether thelink therein is horizontally or vertically disposed. It is preferredthat the rail span the space between at least three or four stakepockets in order that there will be at least one and preferably twopockets between the posts. A separate chain may then be secured at eachend to a stake pocket adjacent to the one in which the post is disposed.

Referring now to the drawing, the illustrated embodiment has anupstanding retaining panel 10 which extends laterally across the cargocarrying bed of a vehicle. Panel 10 is fabricated from wood such asconventional flooring having tongue and groove joints. A channel member111 is disposed over the top edge of the panel and a second channelmember 32 is disposed over the bottom edge. A channel member 12 isdisposed over each end of the panel 10. Metal plate members 40 may bewelded to channel 11 and bolted to underlying channel 12 by bolts 13.

A pair of struts 14a and 14b are secured to one end to channel 12 andjoin at the opposite end to form a triangularly shaped bracket 14. Asleeve 15 is welded or otherwise secured at the apex of each bracket 14.An intermediate sleeve 24 is secured to each channel 12. Foot plates 30secured to the bottom of each channel member 12 facilitates sliding ofthe bulkhead over the surface of the vehicles bed.

Upstanding posts 17 are spaced from each other on each side of thevehicle bed, so that they may be disposed simultaneously in stakepockets 18. A rail 19 spans the space between stake pockets 18 and ispinned or otherwise secured through post 17 near the top thereof asshown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Sleeves l and 24 are slidably mounted on rail19. Welded to the bottom of post 17 is a depending channel member 20which fits inside stake pocket 18.

A slotted plate has its face welded to post 17 to form a bracket 21having a slot 22. A chain 23 is secured at each end to a stake pocket 18and passes through slots 22 of posts 17 to bind the assembly againstvertical displacement from the vehicle bed.

A coil spring 31 is disposed about rail 19 between each sleeve andsleeve 24. A bushing or collar 25 is slidably disposed about rail 19. Anannular flange 26 carried by bushing 25 prevents the end of the spring31 from telescoping over the bushing.

A plurality of holes 33 through rail 19 combine with bolts 34 toposition panel 10 between posts 17. Suitable pins may be substituted forbolts 34. As illustrated in FlGS. 4, 6 and 7, four angle irons 35 arewelded to a plate 36 to provide a reinforcing member which extendslongitudinally through rail 19. The holes 33 in rail 19 and holes 33'through plate 36 permit adjustment of the panel 10 between stake pockets18 and thus provide for movement of the panel 10 against the cargoregardless of the dimensions thereof.

Panel 10 may be fabricated from a corrugated metal sheet or any othersuitable material instead of wood. A relatively large spring may be usedso that the panel not only moves when struck by shifting cargo but willtend to move the cargo back to its original position. If corrugatedsteel or other metal is used for panel 10, the top and bottom channelmembers may not be required and angle iron members may be substitutedfor channels 12. Suitable elastomeric resilient members may besubstituted for springs 31.

The shock-absorbing bulkhead may be attached to any vehicle includingrailway flat cars or the like having a flat bed for carrying cargo andhaving stake pockets attached to the bed.

Although the invention has been described in detail for the purpose ofillustration it is to be understood that such detail is solely for thatpurpose and that variations can be made therein by those skilled in theart without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention exceptas it may be limited by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bulkhead adapted for attachment to the cargo bearing surface of avehicle provided with longitudinally spaced stake pockets around thesaid surface, said bulkhead comprising an upstanding retaining paneladapted to extend laterally across the said surface, means at each endof the panel for securing it to the vehicle comprising a pair oflongitudinally spaced posts each adapted to be disposed in a stakepocket, a supporting rail spanning the distance between the posts andfixed against movement relative thereto, means carried by the retainingpanel for slidably mounting it on said rail, and resilient means carriedby the rail for resisting longitudinal movement of the retaining panelover the rail.

2. The bulkhead of claim 2 wherein the said rail has longitudinallyspaced holes therethrough, a pair of springs are disposed about the railand between said means for slidably mounting the panel on the rail and apin in one of said holes.

3. The bulkhead of claim 1 wherein a bracket projects outwardly fromeach side of the retaining panel, a sleeve carried by each bracket isslidably disposed about the rail, an intermediate sleeve carried by theend of the panel is slidably disposed about the rail, said rail haslongitudinally spaced holes therethrough, and a spring coiled about therail is compressed between the intermediate sleeve and a pin in one ofthe holes.

4. The bulkhead of claim 3 wherein a pair of struts combine to form atriangularly shaped bracket with one end of each strut secured to thepanel and the apex of the bracket carrying a sleeve.

5. A vehicle having a bed with a flat surface for carrying cargo andlongitudinally spaced stake pockets secured to each side of the bed anda bulkhead removably attached to the bed's surface comprising anupstanding retaining panel which extends laterally across the bed, meansat each end of the panel for resiliently resisting permanentlongitudinal displacement thereof comprising a pair of posts eachdisposed in a stake pocket, a supporting rail spanning the distancebetween the posts and fixed against movement relative thereto, meanscarried by the retaining panel for slidably mounting the panel on saidrail, and resilient means carried by the rail adapted to compress inresponse to a load applied against the retaining panel.

6. The vehicle of claim 5 wherein the resilient means is a spring coiledabout the rail, the rail has longitudinally spaced holes therethrough,and the spring is disposed between the means carried by the panel formounting the panel on the rail and a pin in one of the holes.

7. The vehicle of claim 5 wherein a bracket projects outwardly from eachside of the retaining panel, a sleeve carried by each bracket isslidably disposed about the rail, an intermediate slidable sleeve issecured to the end of the retaining panel and is disposed about the railand a spring is disposed about the rail and between the intermediatesleeve and a pin in a hole in the rail.

8. The bulkhead of claim 1 wherein the retaining panel is wood, channelmembers cover the top and bottom edges and each end of the retainingpanel, and each post carries a bracket having a slot therein adapted toreceive a chain link.

9. The vehicle of claim 7 wherein each post carries a bracket with aslot therein and a chain is secured to a stake pocket and is stretchedthrough the slot of a first bracket, through a stake pocket between thebrackets, through the slot in the second bracket and is secured at itsopposite end to a stake pocket.

10. The bulkhead of claim 8 wherein a flanged bushing is disposed aboutthe rail between each end of the spring and the pin.

11. A bulkhead adapted to be removably secured to the surface of an openbed of a freight vehicle, said bed having longitudinally spaced stakepockets along each side thereof, said bulkhead comprising a paneladapted to extend laterally across the bed, means at each end of thepanel for securing it to the vehicle bed comprising a pair of struts oneach side of the panel each having one end secured to the panel and theopposite ends secured together to form a triangularly shaped bracket, apost spaced longitudinally from each side of the panel and disposed in astake pocket, a rail spaced above the vehicle bed and spanning thedistance between the posts and secured thereto, a sleeve carried by eachbracket and slidably mounted on the rail, a spring on each side of thepanel about the rail, longitudinally spaced holes through the rail, acollar about the rail ad- 5 jacent each end of the spring, and a pin ina hole on

1. A bulkhead adapted for attachment to the cargo bearing surface of avehicle provided with longitudinally spaced stake pockets around thesaid surface, said bulkhead comprising an upstanding retaining paneladapted to extend laterally across the said surface, means at each endof the panel for securing it to the vehicle comprising a pair oflongitudinally spaced posts each adapted to be disposed in a stakepocket, a supporting rail spanning the distance between the posts andfixed against movement relative thereto, means carried by the retainingpanel for slidably mounting it on said rail, and resilient means carriedby the rail for resisting longitudinal movement of the retaining panelover the rail.
 2. The bulkhead of claim 2 wherein the said rail haslongitudinally spaced holes therethrough, a pair of springs are disposedabout the rail and between said means for slidably mounting the paneL onthe rail and a pin in one of said holes.
 3. The bulkhead of claim 1wherein a bracket projects outwardly from each side of the retainingpanel, a sleeve carried by each bracket is slidably disposed about therail, an intermediate sleeve carried by the end of the panel is slidablydisposed about the rail, said rail has longitudinally spaced holestherethrough, and a spring coiled about the rail is compressed betweenthe intermediate sleeve and a pin in one of the holes.
 4. The bulkheadof claim 3 wherein a pair of struts combine to form a triangularlyshaped bracket with one end of each strut secured to the panel and theapex of the bracket carrying a sleeve.
 5. A vehicle having a bed with aflat surface for carrying cargo and longitudinally spaced stake pocketssecured to each side of the bed and a bulkhead removably attached to thebed''s surface comprising an upstanding retaining panel which extendslaterally across the bed, means at each end of the panel for resilientlyresisting permanent longitudinal displacement thereof comprising a pairof posts each disposed in a stake pocket, a supporting rail spanning thedistance between the posts and fixed against movement relative thereto,means carried by the retaining panel for slidably mounting the panel onsaid rail, and resilient means carried by the rail adapted to compressin response to a load applied against the retaining panel.
 6. Thevehicle of claim 5 wherein the resilient means is a spring coiled aboutthe rail, the rail has longitudinally spaced holes therethrough, and thespring is disposed between the means carried by the panel for mountingthe panel on the rail and a pin in one of the holes.
 7. The vehicle ofclaim 5 wherein a bracket projects outwardly from each side of theretaining panel, a sleeve carried by each bracket is slidably disposedabout the rail, an intermediate slidable sleeve is secured to the end ofthe retaining panel and is disposed about the rail and a spring isdisposed about the rail and between the intermediate sleeve and a pin ina hole in the rail.
 8. The bulkhead of claim 1 wherein the retainingpanel is wood, channel members cover the top and bottom edges and eachend of the retaining panel, and each post carries a bracket having aslot therein adapted to receive a chain link.
 9. The vehicle of claim 7wherein each post carries a bracket with a slot therein and a chain issecured to a stake pocket and is stretched through the slot of a firstbracket, through a stake pocket between the brackets, through the slotin the second bracket and is secured at its opposite end to a stakepocket.
 10. The bulkhead of claim 8 wherein a flanged bushing isdisposed about the rail between each end of the spring and the pin. 11.A bulkhead adapted to be removably secured to the surface of an open bedof a freight vehicle, said bed having longitudinally spaced stakepockets along each side thereof, said bulkhead comprising a paneladapted to extend laterally across the bed, means at each end of thepanel for securing it to the vehicle bed comprising a pair of struts oneach side of the panel each having one end secured to the panel and theopposite ends secured together to form a triangularly shaped bracket, apost spaced longitudinally from each side of the panel and disposed in astake pocket, a rail spaced above the vehicle bed and spanning thedistance between the posts and secured thereto, a sleeve carried by eachbracket and slidably mounted on the rail, a spring on each side of thepanel about the rail, longitudinally spaced holes through the rail, acollar about the rail adjacent each end of the spring, and a pin in ahole on each side of the panel and against the spring positioning thepanel on the rail, and means comprising a slotted bracket carried beeach post and a chain looped through the slot and secured to stakepockets for preventing vertical displacement of the bulkhead from thevehicle.